page_title: Frank Reginald Carey
section_title: Early life and career
hierarchical_section_title: Frank Reginald Carey / Early life and career
context_page_description: Frank Reginald "Chota" Carey, CBE, DFC & Two Bars, AFC, DFM was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot and flying ace who served during World War II.
  Born in Brixton, London, Carey was educated at Belvedere School before he joined the RAF in September 1927 at the age of 15 as an apprentice metal rigger. After completing the apprenticeship Carey was assigned to No. 43 Squadron RAF based at RAF Tangmere. In 1933 he converted to the role of fitter at RAF Worthy Down. In 1935 he applied to become a fighter pilot and completed the training in 1936. Carey was posted back to 43 Squadron and by 1939 was an established pilot.
  At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 Carey flew defensive patrols over eastern Scotland, where he gained his first successes. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal in February 1940 for several shared air victories. Commissioned as pilot officer in April 1940, he transferred to No. 3 Squadron RAF and participated in the Battle of France. In May he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for seven enemy aircraft shot down and two probably shot down. On 14 June he received a Bar to the DFC and a promotion to flying officer.
context_section_description: Frank Reginald Carey was born in Brixton, London on 7 May 1912 to Alfred John Carey (b. 1885) and Elsie Mabel Carey (née Whatson, b. October 1889). Frank was the eldest of three sons—Hugh John (b. 1914) and Roy Gerald (b. 1916). Carey had vague memories of World War I and aviation as a child. During the Zeppelin and German bombing campaign over England his parents strapped a table over his bed to afford the young Frank some protection from bomb fragments. During the war his mother became ill with tuberculosis. The family moved to Lindfield, north of Haywards Heath in Sussex. Alfred hoped the country air would be better for her than the smog-filled London. Elsie succumbed to her condition on 26 November 1924. After her death Alfred pursued his career as a trainee engineer and work as a chauffeur. Alfred set up an ironmongers company soon after, but the Wall Street Crash of 1929 forced Carey senior into bankruptcy.
  Carey was educated at Belverdere School, Haywards Heath; a relative paid for the brothers' education there. A former pupil of Belverdere had become a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF). The pilot frequently visited the school and performed low fly-pasts in an Armstrong Whitworth Siskin, and this display encouraged Carey to seek a career as a pilot and leave home. Carey's father had remarried and Frank did not get on with his new wife or new step-brothers. The family's finances were in a parlous state and coupled with Frank's poor educational performance, he was prevented from applying to join the RAF immediately.
  Cary found salvation in the Halton Apprenticeship Scheme at Halton House, near Aylesbury and Tring in Buckinghamshire. Lord Trenchard, the Chief of the Air Staff, set up the scheme at RAF Halton which used Halton House as the Officers' Mess. Carey was sometimes assigned to RAF Cranwell until 1926 when the site could take the overwhelming numbers of applicants. With the help of his former headmaster at Lindfield, Carey sat and barely passed the examinations at Burlington Gardens in West London. Carey was lacking in discipline but soon became adept at keeping fit and lean. At the end of the three-year course he finished 227th out of a class of 419, and just qualified with an overall grade of 65 percent. Mathematics, Science, Engineering and English was rated at 59.9 percent. General service was marked 57 percent and his technical knowledge was rated at 73 percent. He was accepted into the RAF with service number 561516, in September 1927 as an airframe fitter. His tutors noted he had not attained a trainee non-commissioned officer rank and was not likely to be fit for command.
  In 1930 Carey was posted to No. 43 Squadron RAF based at RAF Tangmere near Chichester, West Sussex. After serving for one year and improving his technical grade, Carey was posted to RAF Worthy Down near Winchester where he spent most of his time in the workshops rebuilding and servicing Napier Lion engines. In 1935, after several applications, he was selected for pilot training. He was sent to No. 6 Flying Training School at Netheravon in Wiltshire. Little of Carey's flight training is known since his logbook was lost. Carey passed out as a Sergeant pilot, rejoining 43 Squadron, now flying the Hawker Fury. While in Wiltshire he met his first wife, Kathleen Ivy Steele. They were married at Winchester Registry office on 1 July 1936 and moved to a house in Arundel.
  Carey arrived at Tangmere on 30 November 1936. Carey's 5 foot 3 inch frame earned him the nickname Chota ("little one"), a name absorbed by the RAF from its time in India. Carey flew the Bristol Bulldog, Gloster Gauntlet and Hawker Demon. In August 1936 Caesar Hull joined the Squadron. Hull was also to become a fighter ace in World War II. The Squadron competed at Sutton Bridge in January 1937 for the Sir Philip Sassoon Flight Attack Challenge Trophy. On 26 June 1937 Carey participated in the Hendon Air Displays. In June 1938 Peter Townsend was assigned to the Squadron. In August 1938 the Squadron was sent to Northern Ireland, No. 2 Armament Training Station for gunn
caption: Halton House, Carey's first posting.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD", "Image Model": "X300,D565Z,C450Z", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "v752-78", "Image DateTime": "2004:10:10 16:30:48", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "550", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 20, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4084", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5328", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "19/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2004:10:10 16:30:48", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2004:10:10 16:30:48", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "39/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2288", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1712", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1268", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}